Why politics is obsessed with Civilization, 13/02/2025
The strategy game, not the noun (obviously)
I find out why politics pros can’t get enough of the Civ series
Elon Musk goes after games journalism because of course he does
Tomb Raider’s latest remastered trilogy shoots its way onto devices
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Hello VGIM-ers,
I’m back in the UK after spending most of the past week in Belgium.
If anyone wants to buy me a crate of Brugse Zot for my birthday in a few weeks time, you have my blessing.
Before we dive into the Big Read, I wanted to let you know that you can listen to me blather on for the best part of an hour in a very special podcast this week.
Last year, I was interviewed by Rad Yeo during Melbourne’s International Games Week for Australian broadcaster ABC’s Big Ideas podcast about whether video games are a new frontier for global influence.
And, excitingly, the episode has finally dropped.
If you want to listen to me try to answer complex questions about the role of games in society while suffering from significant jet lag, give it a listen here.
Otherwise, let’s get on with a remarkably Civil big read.
The big read - Why politics is obsessed with Civilization
My oh Meier: Civilization VII (Civ, to its many fans) released on all platforms earlier this week. The latest entry in Sid Meier’s strategy series has given players plenty of new features to enjoy, including a new three act age structure and the ability to split leaders from their historical factions. But the release also achieved something else too - it got politics nerds all in a lather.
Playing politics: Yes, there isn’t a video game quite like Civ to bring out the video game enthusiast in our elites. Whether its politicians, policy makers, political media, lobbyists or the lackeys who run around making everything work, the strategy series has a barely hidden hold on the hearts of our loveable lawmakers.
Turn based chattery: But why has the strategy series found such a significant fanbase within the halls of power? I took it upon myself to waste the time of people doing actually important things related to the governing of our countries to find out.
The numbers game
Quick tutorial: If you haven’t played Civ, the game’s premise is simple enough. After founding a settlement in ye olden times (that’s a historiographical term I picked up at university, I promise), players must parlay their single city into a flourishing civilization over the course of thousands of in-game years.
Policy priorities: And crucially, the way players achieve this is largely through statecraft. By carefully evolving technologies, picking policies and even selecting types of government that align with a player’s chosen faction leader, you can win a game in myriad ways - from creating a scientific superpower capable of delivering us all to a better future to nuking everyone back to the stone age. Yikes.
All of your player base belong to us: Unsurprisingly, a game that is so statecraft heavy appeals to plenty of political types. But how many people in politics dabble in Civ? Erm, it’s tricky to say. Games data services like Newzoo don’t have a data tab marked “favourite games of political officials”, funnily enough. And I don’t expect a think tank or a bored public affairs agency to run a flash “do you play video games” survey of public affairs pros any time soon.
Anecdata: So instead, let’s lean into my favourite kind of evidence to suggest lots of people in politics play Civ: the circumstantial kind. And here, things look a lot rosier than me. Based on my deeply scientific surveying methodology of, erm, texting people I know in the biz - sample bias be damned - I found out that a surprisingly large amount have i) played or still play Civ or ii) play a similar strategy game to get their kicks (e.g. a Paradox 4X game or a deep simulation title like Football Manager).
Domination victory: And very importantly - at least for trying to hold my flimsy argument together - that interest holds across the world. I knew that plenty of people in my network in the UK play it, partly because my status as “some guy who knows video games and politics” has drawn people to me. But the nerdery is much more international than that. Sources in the Brussels bubble speak quietly of a group of games loving policy nerds (some may call it a ‘cabal’) in which “almost everyone” plays Civ. And in the US, it took me one question - and barely more than 30 minutes - to find Civ enthusiasts within the national government.
A different age
Growing up fast: So there are plenty of Civ fans at the heart of power. But which came first for them, dear reader: a love of strategy games or an interest in politics? The answer, it seems, is that the two rode in tandem with one another.
The Right Honorable Member for Playing Civilization:“I was a big fan of the Civilization games in the 1990s and 2000s, especially the Call to Power games,” said Tristan Osborne MP, the Labour representative for Chatham and Aylesford, member of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Video Games and Esports. “I have played every version since and have enjoyed the evolution of the games,” he added, before ruefully admitting he can now only play in holidays due to his workload as an elected official. We all have to make sacrifices, eh?
Child friendly fun?: But Tris isn’t the only person working in politics whose interest in the series stretches way back. “I actually just realised that Civ is one of the first games I ever played”, said Dr Celia Pontin, Director of Policy and Public Affairs at Flux Digital Policy, whose clients include Mobile Games Intelligence. ”I have vague memories of my older brothers showing me how it worked when I was about 7,” she explained, adding a fascinating new angle to the question of what ‘age appropriate play’ means in the process.
Inspirational leadership: Did Civ inspire both of them into politics? I’d say it did in part. Tris told me that “as a general fan of city and civilisation builder games they [the Civ games] were pioneering and probably have played a part in my interest in public policy” - a gift of a quote to any public affairs pros lobbying for the games biz.
Edu-tainment: More realistically though, I think that Civ’s exhaustive efforts to recreate the evolution of society over time created an overlap between a particular type of fun and a handful of liberal arts educational subjects that happen to appeal to policy wonks in particular.
History toys: Celia, for example, suggests that her experiences with Civ in the early 1990s were as much about learning “what the hell a trireme was” as it was an opportunity to build a nation state from scratch. And Nicholas Elles, VP of Communication and Public Affairs at Video Games Europe, had a similarly educational interest in the game when he first started playing. “What lured me in was the mix between loving to build things and history,” he said - a major reason that he still plays today.
Masters of their own destiny
Reality is rubbish: But outside of Civ’s reasonably high educational value, there’s a bigger reason why its slow burning strategy play continues to captivate our political overlords: the desire to be in the policy hotseat.
Managed economies: “I think in general management games appeal to political types because of the idea that there are problems that only you and/or your preferred policies can fix,” says Stephen Bush, Columnist and Associate Editor of The Financial Times.
What the Doctor ordered: And while Stephen admits that Civ is not his preferred strategy game poison (he’s more of a Football Manager fan, if you do want to update your press lists), Celia agrees with his overarching diagnosis.
Goblins unleashed: “It's mandatory for public policy goblins like us to have our pet political theories that we're convinced would work, and games like Civ give us the chance to see them play out narratively and demonstrate just how right we are to prioritise pottery over the alphabet.” Someone tell Keir Starmer this, pronto!
Different priorities: Prime Ministerial glibness aside, Celia’s point touches on another key reason why Civ proves so alluring to the politically minded. Its long standing commitment to allow you to emerge victorious in ways that don’t necessarily involve you steamrolling the Earth into oblivion.
City States: “I’ve spent more hours playing Civ than I have any other game combined,” says Jared Shurin, Head of Strategic Communications at the Greater London Authority and curator of great newsletters. “I was always more of a cultivator than a conqueror. I liked doing research and building big cities,” he explained in a way that made me feel reassured about the job he’s currently doing.
John Milton calls in: But while Jared’s love of Civ (and particularly the second game in the series) is rooted in his love of being a builder not a hater, he also said that a “huge part of the appeal” of it is the way it forces you to compromise between your vision and the emerging reality of the game world. “You could win Civ without instigating the violence, but you could never avoid it entirely,” he said. “Strive for the best; prepare for the worst. It understood the human condition; our search for perfection in an imperfect world,” he opined.
Chaos theory: Profound stuff. But Jared also handily leads us to the final reason why politicos love Civ; a desire to impose some form of order on their crazy chaotic real lives.
Throwing shade at Dominic Cummings: “I suspect for a lot of Westminster Substack megabrains it [Civ] makes them feel like master strategists rather than, say, an MP bag carrier who once watched the West Wing,” said Matt Honeycombe-Foster, UK News Editor of Politico - to the noise of cats screeching in the background presumably.
Better than the day job: “But also, more generously, it is a thoughtful, slow burn game where you make a difference over a long sweep,” he explained. “This is the total opposite of how most of Westminster feels, where they’re grinding out an on-the-day, tiny victory against meanie opposition while at the mercy of massive global trends.”.
Keeping things Civil(ization)
Coming to a conclusion: So to summarise, the reasons why our friends in politics love Civ is that its many mechanics are tailor made to their interests, that it appeals to their belief that their vision of the world is The Right One and provides them with a sense of control that contrasts with the madness of the day job. But I think we can draw a few wider conclusions from their strategy game loving too.
The culture club: At the top of the list, it’s another reminder that games have achieved meaningful cut-through in society. The job certainly isn’t done yet, but the ease with which I found people in positions of power and authority who viewed a game fondly - and admitted it shaped their worldview - suggests the medium cuts much deeper than most people think.
Serious games: Next, it’s another reminder to society at large that there’s value in thinking of games as a serious part of the lives of serious people. While a good chunk of the worst coverage of the games industry is behind us (hello violent video games moral panic), there’s still a tendency to view the audience as the sum total of gamer culture alone. Understanding that broadsheet newspaper readers and Bloomberg subscribers value video games like Civ shows the importance of covering the topic with due seriousness across the press.
Waiting in the lobby: And as a final cherry on top of the cake, it should encourage the industry to lobby political audiences with a bit more bravado and creativity. Now, I’m not saying that we should whack messages about the importance of upping video game tax reliefs into in-game splash screens in Civ...yet. But the fact that so many people in the political world do have such a positive relationship with a game opens a door to deeper connection with those advocates - strengthening the industry’s position in the policy world in the process.
End of the turn: So there you have it. Civ isn’t just a game that’s beloved by political wonks; it’s a reminder that popular video games are the industry’s equivalent of the big name Hollywood film stars who can sprinkle star dust on their sector. And if we want to increase the industry’s impact in the smoke filled rooms where decisions are made, it’s time we lean into the fondness politicos have for such games - even if they’re not all quite as small p political as Civ is.
News in brief
Musky Odour: Elon Musk has described video games journalism as ‘garbage’ as part of a series of tweets disparaging the profession. The Nazi saluting video game cheater implied that there needs to be new publications to counter ‘woke’ games content, while also expressing support for a dedicated games vertical on X “run by gamers for gamers” proposed by a right wing blogger. Storm in a teacup? Perhaps. But given the next story, we might need to think about ties between the hard right and games…
ARMA-ed up: Marek Španěl and Slavomír Pavlíček, CEO and CFO of Czech game publisher Bohemia Interactive, have been named as the co-owner of a Czechia media outlet called Parlamentní listy that has been accused of peddling Russian propaganda. In response, Španěl has claimed that describing a news site as “'pro-Russian' or 'anti-science' has become a concerning mechanism for silencing legitimate perspectives" - saying the quiet part out loud in the process.
Dis-Unity: Unity has announced further job cuts as part of a series of “important organisational changes,” a move which has led to the disbandment of the company’s Behavior team. The news was announced via an early morning memo sent by Unity CEO Matthew Bromberg and represents the sixth wave of job losses to hit the business in the past three years.
Superselling: In much more wholesome video games leadership news, Illka Paananen, CEO of Supercell, has released a lengthy and fascinating blog post about how the company did in 2024. As well as featuring all kinds of facts and stats about the success of Brawl Stars and challenges facing Squad Busters, the piece is a rare example of transparent, informative and thoughtful exec communication that should be applauded.
Sacked in the morning: Sports Interactive announced the cancellation of Football Manager 2025 last week after it became clear that the game would “not achieve the standard required” to release in March. I’d predicted that this might happen in the October 2024 edition of The Debrief, partly due to development challenges but also to allow the series to realign around its usual football calendar friendly Autumn release date. But it’s sad news for one of my favourite video games series, that’s for sure.
On the move
Yoichi Erikawa ends his stint as CEO of Koei Tecmo. He steps down to the role of Chairman with Hisashi Koinuma taking over the reins at the top…James Batchelor has popped up as Communications Manager at Digital Bandidos. Richard Iwaniuk has also joined the business as Chief Financial Officer…Dr Celia Pontin of the article quoted above has been appointed Director of Public Policy and Public Affairs at Flux Digital Policy…And Radical Forge has double dipped on Daves in their leadership team, with David Dixon and Dave Bramhall joining the business as Chief Commercial Officer and Head of Production respectively…
Jobs ahoy
The Games Rating Authority is recruiting for a new Policy Officer…The Pokemon Company is hiring an Associate PR Manager…Sony Interactive Entertainment is hunting for a Technical Researcher…Electronic Arts is looking for a Director of Studio Operations for its Finnish business…And 2K Games wants a new Manager, Community Relations (Core Games) to head over to Austin, Texas. Yee-haw y’all!...
Events and conferences
Guildford Games Festival, Guildford - 14th February
devcomm leadership summit, Lisbon - 19th-21st February
DevGAMM 2025, Gdansk - 27th-28th February
Tokyo Indie Games Summit, Tokyo - 8th-9th March
Game Developers Conference, San Francisco - 17th-21st March
Games of the week
Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered - Lara Croft returns in remastered form for the second time in a year, with three more freshly buffed classics to play.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak II - Discover who is behind a series of murders in between battles and fishing minigames in the sequel to a game that was once *checks notes* previously released.
Wario Land 4 - Somewhat forgotten 2D platforming classic crashes onto Nintendo Switch Online+ this Friday.
Before you go…
Ever hated a motorway exit so much that you’ve made a video game about it?
Mike Ramirez has.
He’s created a game that allows players to experience the hell of leaving North Carolina’s Interstate 277 via Exit 3A, which was once described by local news outlet The Charlotte Magazine as the city’s “most hated interchange.”
Someone put on Catatonia, will you?
This was a fun read!
As a fully-fledged Civ nerd, I enjoyed this